Telstra and Samsung both love Android’s current favourite flagship, the Galaxy S9 and S9+, and they have every reason to. Now they have even more reasons, one thousand of them.
At MWC this year Telstra broke a record by demonstrating that they could break 2Gbps on a 4G network but what about IRL I hear you ask? Well, the bad news is that they haven’t quite hit the 2Gbps around the traps in Australia just yet but, and I can’t see how it is a bad thing, they have managed to break 1Gbps.
Using a Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ Telstra were able to record mobile data speeds in excess of 1Gbps, the first in Australia to do it on a commercial network with a commercial smartphone. They did not just do it once but did it repeatedly in gigabit-enabled parts of Telstra’s Sydney network.
Cracking the magic gigabit mark on smartphones is an exciting milestone. As smartphones evolve and we move into the 5G era there will be a new raft of sophisticated features that are enabled by reliably fast data speeds. High-quality augmented reality, virtual personal assistants that anticipate needs and virtual doctors that monitor vital signs are just some of the technologies that are on the horizonKevin Teoh, Telstra’s Head of Mobiles
To achieve these types of speeds yourself of course you will need a gigabit-enabled device as well as be located in a gigabit-enabled area. YMMV of course and Telstra do not expect their customers to be able to achieve 1Gbps as a routine (“Typical customer speeds will be less”). Telstra’s gigabit-enabled network is available in the Sydney and Melbourne CBDs (3 km radius), Brisbane and Adelaide CBDs (2 km radius), and a number of sites in selected high traffic areas (Perth yours is currently being built).
While I am unsure of the real world use of this type of speed I do have to remind myself of Thomas Watson’s (President of IBM 1943) words “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Who knows what the future holds? It is exciting though to think of the things we may one day be able to do with speeds like this.
